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It's always been an issue. The neighbors (older couple) where I grew up as a kid in Vegas were part of a local offroad club. One weekend they went to Delamar, NV and torn down an old wood building for another member to use as decoration in his house. After some choice words, they never spoke much after that to my knowledge.

It PO'd my dad as far as destruction of something historical for no reason more than personal use, and the fact we have family history tied to Delamar.

Oh man those picture, that town, are just beyond cool.
I am just working my way through the silde show.
To see all the stuff still in the houses, the coat hanging on the nail right where somebody left it, all those personal items and furniture. It is really unbelievable.
I keep trying to imagine what it was like in it's hayday, one thing I read was that the main street was a mile long..holy crud!
The schoolroom, it looks like the kids just walked out and never returned, or were planning to return. I can't believe the amount of things left behind. And i find it ever more amazing that so much is still there, maybe, just maybe, there is hope for people yet.

I am a college student majoring in history and archaeology and I think one of the saddest things that I have ever heard of or seen is the vandalism that goes on in many historical places that just haven't been "officially" protected yet. Just because there isn't a ranger standing around or a park police around the corner, people think they can do whatever they want with whatever there is. But if they only realized that what they destroy can never be recreated again, maybe things would be different. We can learn so much from yesterdays past, it always thrills me when I get to see a ghost town left in tact and not damaged too much by vandals or looters.

I must admit sometimes it is a temptation for me not to leave everything as I see it. Especially if I see signs that someone has been vandalizing the site recently. And if I see something that I know would be of value to a museum or a heritage center, it is hard for me to resist saving the item. But 99.9% if the time I do. It does inspire me though to hurry and finish my studies so that I can work to further study and protect these wonderful windows into our past!

Please folks, let's all work to help preserve our past so that future generations will be able to also enjoy these wonderful treasures that we have been able to enjoy! There is nothing like visiting a ghost town!!!

I am a college student majoring in history and archaeology and I think one of the saddest things that I have ever heard of or seen is the vandalism that goes on in many historical places that just haven't been "officially" protected yet. Just because there isn't a ranger standing around or a park police around the corner, people think they can do whatever they want with whatever there is. But if they only realized that what they destroy can never be recreated again, maybe things would be different. We can learn so much from yesterdays past, it always thrills me when I get to see a ghost town left in tact and not damaged too much by vandals or looters.

I must admit sometimes it is a temptation for me not to leave everything as I see it. Especially if I see signs that someone has been vandalizing the site recently. And if I see something that I know would be of value to a museum or a heritage center, it is hard for me to resist saving the item. But 99.9% if the time I do. It does inspire me though to hurry and finish my studies so that I can work to further study and protect these wonderful windows into our past!

Please folks, let's all work to help preserve our past so that future generations will be able to also enjoy these wonderful treasures that we have been able to enjoy! There is nothing like visiting a ghost town!!!

Welcome.
I wished more like you.
I was at another ghost town website to day.
He photographed a recent (?) burned
stamp mill.But, as what vandals do,a
building was torched also.
My best to you.

Disgust

I lived in a small town in Japan that was an important castle town and important regional military and political center from the late 1540s until the early 1590s.

The former castle site had been demolished around 1630 to prevent potential rebels from using it, so there are few signs left of what it used to look like. Even the few stone wall foundations were destroyed.

The curator at the local museum said one local historian had taken a number of items for his collection, even though the site was a nationally protected one. So others wouldn't follow his example, I got a compass and topo map of the site, bought plastic bags and rubber bands, and climbed the castle hill a few times a month looking for artifacts. When I found something I tagged it, marked its location on my map, and took it to the local museum.

In exchange for the artifacts (mostly 15th and 16th century porcelain shards and roof tile pieces), the curator gave me lessons in identifying Ming Dynasty and other kinds of porcelain. I later found out that some of my finds went on national exhibit and were published in a book about the warlord who owned the castle.

While I was tempted to keep a piece or two for myself, my conscience as a historian made me turn everything over. A shard of Ming Dynasty porcelain means little by itself, but it can mean a lot when properly cataloged and identified. I found that local lore about the castle's use were probably wrong, as I found pieces of rice bowls in an area traditionally thought of as the area where the stables were.

While I'd love to metal detect in old town sites to find buttons and coins before they corrode into oblivion, I'd only do so if I recorded where I found the pieces and turned them over to the local museum near the site. I hate to see history sold away as trinkets.